Free Solo
First screened in November 2018
Directors: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin. Documentary about Alex Honnold's dogged attempts to climb the 3,000-foot face of a rock wall in Yosemite National Park, without ropes, nets, or harnesses. Interview subjects include Alex Honnold, Sanni McCandless, Tommy Caldwell, Jimmy Chin, and Mikey Schaefer.

Twitter Capsule: Man on Wire, but with no wire. At once sympathetic and tough. Digs into relationships, monomanias, feelings about death.

VOR:   It's remarkable that the crew secured this footage, and took thoughtful stock of the burden of their own presence. Formally familiar in other ways.



Photo © 2018 National Geographic Films

Not yet reviewed in full. Grade: B+


Academy Award Nominations and Winners:
Best Documentary Feature

Other Awards:
British Academy Awards (BAFTAs): Best Documentary Feature

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